For museums, financial crisis is not a pretty picture

Erik Neil is used to getting checks from reliable donors. But as the recession deepens and the stock market tumbles, he’s become a lot more hesitant opening the envelopes.

The executive director of Huntington’s Heckscher Museum of Art is at a crossroads as dependable backers have cut back on funding. The Hagedorn Foundation recently let Neil know that it chopped its donation in half to $2,500. That was nothing compared to what he heard from beleaguered Citigroup. The bank’s foundation gave Heckscher $14,000 in 2008. In 2009, Citi eliminated the museum’s funding altogether as it focuses on grants related to foreclosures.

“Each one of these might not be the killer,” Neil said. “But they build up.”

Heckscher is not alone in feeling a cash crunch. Museum coffers have been decimated by evaporating endowments and stock losses.

They’re reacting by cutting staff, shortening hours, closing more days, holding fundraisers and reaching out to the community in new ways. And in some cases, they are simply trying to keep from becoming history.

After its endowment tumbled from $12.3 million at the start of the year to $8.3 million, the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport contemplated closing. The county-owned museum isn’t permitted to dip into principal due to the terms of the endowment.

“For the last 10 or so years, we got $1.2 million a year [in interest from the endowment] to supplement our operating budget,” said Carol Hart, executive director. “Because of the stock market crash, we’re projecting about $100,000 in interest. That’s a big drop.”

The Suffolk County Legislature approved $800,000 to save the museum, letting it keep its lights on. “We would have closed,” Hart said.

Although the Vanderbilt’s brush with oblivion may be extreme, Long Island museums are finding that, in addition to excelling at exhibits, they must become adept at the art of survival.

“Everybody’s cutting back. Everybody’s competing for fewer dollars from foundations, corporations and government,” said Andrew Parton, executive director of Cradle of Aviation in Mitchel Field. “We’ve been cutting expenses where we can.”

The Cradle of Aviation cut weekday gift shop hours to 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It had been open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. And it may also cut weekend crafts programs unless it finds sponsors.

Long Island museums have become overlooked victims of struggling banks and mortgage companies, since these firms often funded them.

While national companies provide some grants, Long Island’s lack of national firms with headquarters here doesn’t help either. “You don’t have a lot of corporations based on Long Island who control marketing dollars,” Parton said. “A lot of them are support or regional offices.”

Foundations and corporations aren’t the only ones cutting back. At Hecksher, funding from individuals, foundations, government and corporations fell by more than 25 percent.

Museums seem to have nowhere to turn, with many foundations struggling to continue paying existing grants and shutting the door on new applications.

“We can’t find new funders,” said Susan Lacerte, executive director of the Queens Botanical Garden and an instructor at Farmingdale State College. “Foundations say they’re not accepting new grants.”

So museums with slim profit margins are figuring out how to be more efficient and find new sources of revenue. The Riverhead Foundation eliminated two positions. To make up for the loss, they’re holding volunteer orientations every six weeks.

The Queens Botanical Garden, which projects corporate revenue to be half of what it was a year ago, laid off five people and shut for 10 Mondays, reducing expenses.

“[This] equaled a 20 percent pay cut during this time, but management and staff willingly took this cut in order to avoid more layoffs,” Lacerte said. “Staff all know people who have lost jobs. Better to have a job with less than no job.”

The garden also closed for 10 days around Christmas and cancelled a major Arbor Day program with no sponsor. “We didn’t have funding,” Lacerte said. “So we’re not doing it.”

The Long Island Children’s Museum, also in Mitchel Field, imposed hiring and salary freezes and is offering staff members a four-day workweek with health benefits.

The financial crisis, however, may have created a fundraising renaissance, as museums that have long relied on galas get creative.

The botanical garden staff is organizing a phone-a-thon and flea market. The Vanderbilt is considering naming rights for the planetarium and galleries.

Heckscher is offering better prices for its golf outing, launching an appraisal day and rolling out programs for professionals, such as a session about law and art. It’s also offering a $20 tango night where visitors eat, drink and dance.

And the Cradle is launching cheaper events, including a $75-per-head luncheon to honor Long Island Air and Space Hall of Fame inductees.

“We’re going to do a series of events to try to draw in people who weren’t supportive of the museum,” Parton said.

And despite tough times, museums aren’t abandoning their mission. The African American museum in Hempstead maintains a program for Black history month, Kwanzaa and Martin Luther King Day.

“There’s an expectation from the community that certain events are going to occur at the museum,” said David Byer-Tyre, director of the African American Museum of Nassau County in Hempstead. There’s also an Island depending on their survival.